Intel: We can hit the power consumption of a smartphone

While responding to NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang's claim that Moorestown is nothing but an elephant on a diet, Intel executive Anand Chandrasekher claims Intel can hit the power consumption of a smartphone, and predicts this will become viable with the future 32nm Medfield chip.

Chandrasekher continued. "(Intel) can hit the power consumption of a smartphone. It's not a matter of a physical limit. It is not a matter of a lack of design ingenuity. It is simply a matter of focus and psychology. Up until now, we didn't target the power levels of the smartphone using x86," he said, referring to Intel's chip architecture. And he added that Intel had achieved a "50X" reduction in power with Moorestown.

Chandrasekher, however, admitted that the Moorestown chip is just a starting point for Intel. Along these lines, he addressed the chip that follows Moorestown called "Medfield." Chandrasekher expects Medfield to be more viable because it is based on Intel's advanced 32-nanometer technology. (Moorestown uses the less-advanced 45 nanometer technology.) "Thirty-two nanometer is the one that we think will have more designs than our current 45 nanometer offering. Forty-five nanometer will open the door and get the door swinging, if you will," he said, adding that Medfield will be more integrated than Moorestown.